China Science

Finite-element modeling (FEM) was used to predict the contact stress at which the transition from elastic to plastic deformation occurs in a metallic substrate underneath a hard tribological coating. Using model systems of diamond-like nanocomposite (DLN) coatings on electroformed Ni, NiMn alloy and Inconel 718, friction measurements were made at contact stresses ranging from 540 to 1720 MPa. Cross-sections of wear scars suitable for visualization of friction-induced plastic deformation in the substrate were prepared by focused ion beam microscopy and analyzed by electron backscatter diffraction. At contact stresses below the FEM-predicted elastic–plastic limit, the coefficient of friction decreased linearly with increase in contact stress, suggesting that interfacial shear is the major mechanism of friction in DLN. Contact stresses above the FEM-predicted elastic–plastic limit resulted in plastic deformation of the metallic substrate, and in extreme cases fracture and removal of the coating resulting in a sudden increase in friction.

J.M. Jungka?J.R. Michaela?S.V. Prasad aEmail:svprasa@sandia.gov
[a]Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87185-0889, USA

In the Tremp Basin area(south Pyrenean foreland,Spain),the Campanian-Maastrichtian Orcau-Vell and Santa Engracia deposi-tional sequences onlap the western termination of the Sant Corneli anticline.The precise mapping of the different systems tracts belonging to these depositional sequences,their spatial arrangement,and the structural control of the anticline on the sedimentation still remained unclear.To accurately interpret the geometry of the depositional sequences and to determine the factors influencing the sedimentation,we have developed a method that aims to build a three-dimensional[3-D]geological picture of this area.The originality of our approach is that the 3-D map,which consists of the volume and shape of all the systems tracts,has been produced mainly from the interpretation and combination of surface data,including a mosaic of aerial photographs at 50-cm(20-in.)pixel size and a digital elevation model at 10-m(33-ft)resolution.We have additionally constrained the model by integrating bedding dip and strike data and balanced cross sections.The three-dimensional visualization and field observations reveal the structural control at different scales of the lateral propagation of a fault-propagation fold(Sant Corneli anticline)on the stratigraphic architecture.The Orcau-Vell depositional sequence was controlled by the rise of the base level and was characterized by differences in the sedimentation rates.The emplacement of a north-south-trending gravitational normal fault,located at the western tip of the Sant Corneli anticline,was coeval with the emplacement of the Santa Engracia depositional sequence.This fault resulted from the westward propagation of the Sant Corneli anticline,generating a local slope and a depression that channeled the turbidites and the Gilbert-type delta deposits of the Santa Engracia depositional sequence.Uplift of the Sant Corneli anticline may have subsequently stopped,and the area subsided,inducing a rapid rise of the base level.

Benjamin Cuillaume?Damien Dhont?Stephane Brusset

Empirical data on tropical cyclones (meteorological phenomena) and tsunamis (oceanographic phenomena] from the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans reveal that they are highly powerful and frequent events during the present sea level highstand. Tropical cyclones have the power to stir up the entire water column across the United States Atlantic continental shelf, which is 100 km (62 mi) wide and 200 m (656 ft) deep at the shelf edge. Maximum measured velocities of cyclone-triggered bottom flows are commonly in the range of 100-300 cm s~(-1) (39-117 in. s~(-1)) on the shelf and 200-7000 cm s~(-1) (78—2730 in. s~(-1)) in submarine canyons and troughs. At these high velocities, even gravel-size grains would be eroded and transported. Data also reveal that tropical cyclones accelerate deep-water siliciclastic deposition by transporting sediment seaward across the open shelf, over the shelf edge, and via submarine canyons into deep-water environments during the present high-stand. Modern shelf edges are composed of both relict and active sand bodies that are suitable for delivering sand and gravel into the deep sea. Estimates suggest that 200,000 tropical cyclones (Bay of Bengal [Indian Ocean] and Atlantic Ocean) and 140,000 tsunamis (Pacific Ocean) would have occurred during the present high-stand interval. During Hurricane Hugo (September 1989), more than 2 million kg of sediments were flushed down the Salt River Submarine Canyon (St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands) into deep water.

G. Shanmugam
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Texas at Arlington, P.O. Box 19049, Arlington, Texas

Online legal research startups are trying to capture market terrain from mighty West and Lexis. Two pending lawsuits may determine whether the challengers can gain ground. The first story in this package explores the copyright and antitrust issues raised in the suits. The second looks at the new online companies and their services.

Debra Baker

The battle to curb urban sprawl has made lawyers’ lives more difficult. Now development deals involve a cast of players, including environmental groups, politicians from neighboring communities and zoning officials. Lawyers will have to master negotiating skills as well as become familiar with a dizzying array of land-use requirements.

William C. Smith

We investigate how the budget levels embedded in budget-based contracts affect individual effort and risk-taking. We show that, from a wealth maximization perspective, a tradeoff exists between motivating effort and encouraging risk-taking. We illustrate an inverted-U relation between budget levels and effort. Budget levels and effort are positively correlated until budgets become very difficult, at which point individuals “give up.” We illustrate an opposing, U-shaped, relation between budget levels and risk-taking. Low budgets provide the flexibility to take greater risks, whereas high budgets induce individuals to “play it safe” to ensure budget attainment. Risky projects provide the greatest probability of reaching very high (stretch) budgets. We conduct a laboratory experiment to empirically test this economic proposition vis-à-vis extant psychology research. Consistent with security-potential/aspiration theory, we find that individuals are willing to sacrifice expected wealth to either meet the budget or increase their potential payoffs. Our results suggest that the effort-risk tradeoff is mitigated at low budget levels, thereby increasing firm welfare, but is exacerbated at high budget levels, reducing firm welfare. Collectively, our results highlight the importance of understanding how managerial accounting practices such as budgets affect the various determinants of performance and not just performance per se. Our results also help reconcile conflicting evidence regarding where budget difficulty levels should be set.

Geoffrey B. Sprinklea Email:sprinkle@indiana.edu?Michael G. Williamsonb?David R. Uptonc
[a]Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, 1309 East Tenth Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, United States;[b]The University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business, 1 University Station B6400, Austin, TX 78712-0211, United States;[c]University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Bryan School of Business; Economics, Greensboro, NC 27402-6165, United States

This paper seeks to contribute to a longstanding tradition in accounting research which attempts to understand accounting within its social and historical context. The topic of this historical narrative is the creation and role of accounting in the formation of the electricity industry in the US between 1882 until 1944. The paper is divided into three parts. In the first part we examine how early electrical engineers struggled to understand the nature and behavior of the costs of generating and distributing electricity at the turn of the 19th Century. In doing so, these engineers established a relationship between costs and the engineering concepts of load factor and diversity and developed pricing structures which would recover both standing (fixed) and running (variable) costs. In the second phase, we examine how this accounting knowledge was deployed by early “inventor entrepreneurs” and businessmen in their attempts to dominate the early electric markets in the US and how investor owned regulated utilities emerged out of these strategies as a uniquely North American institution. In the final phase, we examine how accounting became the center of intense conflict between regulatory commissions and investor owned utilities in the US court system – including the Supreme Court – as representatives of these entities vied with each other over the chart of accounts, allowable expenses, the valuation of assets and depreciation. Here we contend that utility accounting did not simply grow to reflect a regulatory process but rather worked to shape utility regulation in the US. In 1944 a legal ruling displaced the primacy of accounting in the regulatory process and shifted its focus from asset valuation to rate of return determination. The space once dominated by accountants was ceded to regulatory economists. After that, accounting became taken-for-granted and matter-of-fact.

Alistair M. Prestona Email:alistair@unm.edu?Andrew M. VeseybEmail:andrew.vesey@aes.com
[a]University of New Mexico, Department of Accounting, Albuquerque, NM 87131-1221, United States;[b]AES Latin America, DR-CAFTA Region, Arlington, VA 22203, United States

This study replicated Evans, Heiman-Hoffman and Rau’s (hereafter, EHR) [Evans, J. H., III, Heiman-Hoffman, V. B., & Rau, S. (1994). The accountability demand for information. Journal of Management Accounting Research, 6, 24–42] US study, using Chinese MBA students as participants. The Chinese students acted as owners and selected one of two control systems. One control system requires truthful reporting and the other control system permits the manager to falsify the report. The two systems have the same expected payoff to the owner if the owner believes that the manager will always lie when given the opportunity. If the owner believes that there is any probability that the manager will tell the truth, then the more Lenient System has the higher expected payoff. We compared the US versus Chinese control system choices, and examined whether the Chinese owner-participants would be willing to sacrifice wealth to get accountability. The results indicate that a significant proportion of Chinese participants do have an accountability demand for information, and that this proportion is at least as high as that of the US participants in EHR.

Jacob G. Birnberga?Vicky B. HoffmanaEmail:VickyHoffman@katz.pitt.edu?Susana Yuenb
[a]Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, United States;[b]School of Accounting and Finance, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hum, Kowloon, Hong Kong